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Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Service Station With Hotel in Heverlee, Belgium by ABSCIS Architecten

The location of Heverlee Delek creates an oasis in which the traveller/commuter can relax within a contemporary environment to refuel, shop and eat before continuing their journey. Starting from the E40; a strong infrastructure vein, fast traffic is refined and reduced until finally distilled into quieter parking spaces and picnic areas. These areas visually meander and flow into the surrounding landscape and beyond. Central to the idea of the plan is a pedestrian axis. This directs traffic to specific areas, solely dedicated for the purpose of rest and relaxation. This ‘walking-axis’ offers the possibility for users to experience the surroundings and to pleasantly reach the service station in safety.

Project: 1 Hotel And 2 Service Stations With a Shop, Restaurant And Cafeteria

Client: Delek Belgium nv

Design team: Vereniging van Studiebureaus ‘ABSCIS – PROVOOST – EDV’

Study: 2008

Phase: In progress

Bruto area: 6194 m²

Cost: € 17 894 806 excluding VAT and fees

Image Courtesy ABSCIS Architecten

By organising specific service station facilities in a logical and considered way, clarity is expressed; further enhancing the paramount importance of pedestrian safety. All facilities are located conveniently on a service island containing parking spaces. These spaces are located on either side of the service station forecourt.

The landscape study showed that this location lies in a spatially and ecologically valuable area, an area that humans have used too often for their own gains.

Enable the site to be returned to nature. The design repays nature by making new forest clusters where trees once stood

Re-establish the continuity of the Egenhoven Forrest

Limit the use of impermeable surfaces

Minimise the built footprint

Realise a compact building volume with a sustainable principle structure and a flexible substructure

Image Courtesy ABSCIS Architecten

The architecture serves to continue the notion of creating a subtle structure set within a rural context. At the centre of the overall landscape lies the service station. This area is intended for refuelling, loading and unloading; it also facilitates a shop, a restaurant and a hotel. The petrol station is separated by a pedestrian path which runs parallel to the traffic flow. Indeed, running transverse to this path, the building is organised in such a way as to allow the traveller to take a step back from the noise and bustle of the busy highway.

Image Courtesy ABSCIS Architecten

The principle building is constructed using a ‘superstructure’ consisting of a canopy and a roof. The roof is carried by columns made from white concrete. These columns are positioned in a crisscross formation. Infill modules created in glass, with a negative imprint of leafy trees, slide underneath the super structure to emphasise the transparency of the structure set against the white surroundings.